wine from concord grapes

[jakesz28]

Who has made wine from concord grapes? What was it like? This year our concord grapes really did well. My wife made concentrate grape juice and jelly. She was getting tired and we did not want to waste the grapes. So I read a little about people using them and if it sits on the skins the net says the wine is foxy. I dot want to drink a wet fur coat. Not sure how foxy is?

I used 25 lbs of grapes, about 10 lbs of sugar, and 2.5 gallons of water. The OG was 1.140. This gave me about 5.5 gallons. Hopefully this comes out drinkable. I have this in a plastic fermenter. When I transfer it to the secondary I will be aiming for a 5 gallon batch.

How long should I leave this in the primary and on the skins?

 

[Yooper]

Who has made wine from concord grapes? What was it like? This year our concord grapes really did well. My wife made concentrate grape juice and jelly. She was getting tired and we did not want to waste the grapes. So I read a little about people using them and if it sits on the skins the net says the wine is foxy. I dot want to drink a wet fur coat. Not sure how foxy is?

I used 25 lbs of grapes, about 10 lbs of sugar, and 2.5 gallons of water. The OG was 1.140. This gave me about 5.5 gallons. Hopefully this comes out drinkable. I have this in a plastic fermenter. When I transfer it to the secondary I will be aiming for a 5 gallon batch.

How long should I leave this in the primary and on the skins?

An OG of 1.140 is too high. But if you add water in secondary, it might be ok if the yeast doesn't stall.

About 5 days on the skins is plenty, then they can be pressed and removed from the wine and the wine rack to secondary, topped up, and airlocked.

 

[jakesz28]

At first I was adding the sugar about a pound at a time. Towards the end I just added about 3 or 4 lbs. I do plan on topping off with water after separating from the skins and going to the carboy. I usually brew beer and have made mead. This is new and hopefully it works out. It was not originally planned and for yeast I had some champagne yeast 1118, so it may not be the best for a good flavor profile. The plus side is it should not stall out either.

 

[jakesz28]

I have to leave town for 5 or 6 days. After reading more about concord grapes and the foxy flavor I decided to separate the wine from the skins and seeds. I transfered it into another plastic fermenting bucket. I measured the SG before topping up with water. It is sitting at 1.050, so about 12% alcohol. Has a long ways to go. The yeast was only in the fermenter for about 48 hours right now.

I sampled what w.as pulled out with the wine thief. It is a little tart, sweet and I already enjoyable. When I get home I will rack it into a carboy and leave it for a few months. I'm going to have the wife keep an eye on the blow off tube and growler/air lock.


EDIT.... I added about 1 gal of water to bring the level up to about 5.5 gallons.

 

[jakesz28]

Just got back home and checked the gravity, 0.990. I racked it to the carboy and put a dark bag over it. Time to let it sit for 3 to 6 months. I little tart and warming.

 

[jakesz28]

Well this is bottled and came out decent. It's a little tart but better then some wines I've bought. Nice legs too.

 

[jensmith]

It will mellow with age. If your concords were as tart as mine were they may even drop some crystels if kept in the cold. That will mellow it even more. Let a few bottles age a year or so.


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[marco5150]

I have made concord grape wine several times from the grapes from the vine in the back yard. I like a sweet wine so I did use a bit more sugar. I always came up with a nice light red color no mater how long I fermented with the skins. Just remove the skins before the first must starts to sink in and dissolve or it turns to a very fine silt that is a lot harder to remove. In the beginning I was going for as much alcohol as I could get so sometimes the yeast called it quits before all the sugar was gone,,, a bit of a balancing act ?!?!?! First week of fermentation was in a large clay barrel which allowed me to break apart the must layer on top and blend it all in which I did twice a day. As soon as the must starts to lose the cake of debris floating on top is the time to remove the solids.